ISLAMABAD, Oct 31: The United Nations believes Pakistan would require at least $2 billion for the relief and recovery phase alone in the aftermath of the Oct 8 earthquake till the end of the winter.

A senior UN official told Dawn that UN Assistant Secretary General Dr Hafeez Pasha has urged the prime minister, at a meeting on Sunday, not to wind up the relief activities at this stage. “Winding up relief activities at this stage would be disastrous,” the official said, adding that the government has been further warned that relief activities may come to a halt if enough money wasn’t made available by the next week.

The UN wants the Pakistan government to put the same emphasis on relief as being focused on the rehabilitation.

“It’s good that the government has started thinking about rehabilitation and reconstruction, but the primary focus, for the time being, needs to remain on the relief operation,” the UN official said.

He said the government has been advised not to rush ahead with the rehabilitation and reconstruction work.

The UN’s assessment of funds required for the relief phase was $2 billion, inclusive of the $549 million flash appeal issued by the UN initially.

Not much of this needed amount has been donated in cash or pledged.

The government was asked to aggressively promote the fact that there wasn’t enough money for saving lives of those who have been rendered homeless and are exposed to diseases, starvation and winter because of lack of appropriate shelter.

Some of the affected populations are still inaccessible, the UN official noted.

The world must be made to realise that it is an extraordinary challenge requiring extraordinary effort. The situation calls for a dramatic escalation of aid to help the quake victims, the UN official said.